4.  The applicant was born in 1952 and lives in Crikvenica.
5.  On 28 May 1986 the applicant and her former husband A.P. (“the debtor”) concluded an in-court settlement (sudska nagodba) by which he undertook an obligation to: (a) hand over to her certain items of movable property listed therein (among which some jewellery), and (b) supply her with certain goods (house equipment and furniture). Under Croatian law an in-court settlement is equal, in terms of its effects, to a res judicata judgment and constitutes an enforcement title.
6.   On 9 January 1989, 9 April 1991 and 2 June 1992, respectively, the applicant also obtained three court judgments against the debtor obliging him to pay her certain amounts of money.
7.  In the period between 1988 and 1992 the applicant instituted five enforcement proceedings against the debtor before the Crikvenica Municipal Court (Općinski sud u Crikvenici) in order to enforce the above settlement and the judgments.
8.  On 15 May 1991 the Municipal Court decided to join three of those proceedings i.e. those instituted in 1988 (two proceedings) and 1989, respectively (see under A., B. and C. below). The intervention of the bailiff (sudski izvršitelj) of 6 June 1991 (see paragraphs 31 and 43 below) was therefore undertaken with a view to seizing the debtor's movables in order to satisfy the applicants claims in at least two proceedings (those under B. and C.). Likewise, they were both affected by the third party intervention resulting in inadmissibility of the enforcement in respect of some of the movables seized (see paragraphs 32 and 44 below). However, it would appear that the court subsequently separated the three proceedings again.
9.  The remaining two proceedings complained of (see under D. below) remained separate until 27 March 2001 when the court decided to join them.
10.  On 2 September 1988 the applicant applied for enforcement of the part of the settlement concerning the handover of movable property. The court issued a writ of execution (rješenje o izvršenju) on 15 September 1988 ordering the debtor to hand over the movables to the applicant. The writ became final on 7 October 1988.
11.  Two successive attempts of the bailiff, on 24 October 1988 and 19 June 1990, to seize the movables failed as he was unable to find them in the possession of the debtor. The applicant therefore on 6 December 1993 invited the court to assess the value of the movables and oblige the debtor to pay her their monetary equivalent.
12.  In order to satisfy her request, on 17 September 1997 the court decided to obtain an expert opinion on the value of the movables and appointed an expert to prepare and submit a report thereon. The expert submitted his report on 22 October 1997 and the court immediately forwarded it to the parties. On 26 June 1998 the applicant objected to the report and invited the court to obtain a new one from another expert.
13.  On 20 October 1998 the President of the Municipal Court instructed the judge in the case to expedite the proceedings.
14.  The Government submitted that on 17 May 1999 the police had served the summons on the applicant because she had been refusing to receive it. The applicant submitted that she had never refused to receive the summons and explained that this had been common practice of serving the court's correspondence at the time. Namely, due to budgetary restrictions the court had often asked the police authorities (which were located in the same building as the court) to distribute the summons through their policemen while they were patrolling the town.
15.  At the hearing held on 26 May 1999 the court accepted the applicant's request for an additional expert opinion and appointed another expert. The second expert submitted his report on 14 July 1999 to which the applicant made no objections. Nevertheless, on 20 September 1999 the court invited the expert to supplement his findings by calculation of the statutory default interest. The expert did so on 11 November 1999.
16.  At the hearing held on 27 October 1999 the court heard the debtor and decided to obtain an opinion from an expert competent to assess the value of the jewellery.
17.  In the period between 25 November 1999 and 21 March 2001 the applicant filed four rush notes urging the court to accelerate the proceedings. Also, on 31 May 2000 she had challenged the partiality of all judges of that court but eventually, on 19 January 2001, withdrew her challenge.
18.  On 27 April 2001 the President of the court for the second time instructed the judge in the case to expedite the proceedings.
19.  At the hearing held on 10 July 2001 the court invited the two experts to harmonise their opinions.
20.  In the period between 21 September 2001 and 19 August 2002 the applicant filed three rush notes asking the court to speed up the proceedings.
21.  On 8 October 2003 the President of the court dismissed the applicant's request for withdrawal of the judge in the case submitted seven days earlier.
22.  On 22 October 2003 the court accepted the applicant's request of 6 December 1993 (see paragraph 11 above) and issued a decision ordering the debtor to pay the applicant 20,552 Croatian kunas (HRK). The decision became final on 5 November 2003.
23.  Meanwhile, the applicant apparently made another request for withdrawal of the judge in the case. On 10 November 2003 the President of the court accepted her request and assigned the case to another judge.
24.  On 25 November 2003 the court invited the applicant to indicate the means and object of the enforcement, i.e. the debtor's assets against which the decision of 22 October 2003 could be executed. The applicant did so on 5 December 2003 indicating that the debtor owned two cars.
25.  On 20 January 2004 the court issued a writ of execution by seizure of the debtor's cars and invited the applicant to advance the costs of the bailiff's intervention. As the applicant had advanced the costs on 2 February 2004, the case was forwarded to the bailiff four days later.
26.   The police authorities informed the court on 22 November 2004 that they had made a notice of seizure in the register of vehicles in respect of the debtor's cars.
27.  On 11 July 2005 the bailiff effected an in situ inspection and seized the debtor's cars by making an inventory thereof. The court sent the minutes of the inspection to the applicant for comment on 22 November 2005 and invited her to make further proposals as regards the seized vehicles. In her reply of 15 December 2005 the applicant asked the court to asses the value of the seized cars and thereafter sell them in satisfaction of her claim.
28.  It appears that the proceedings are still pending.
29.  On 2 September 1988 the applicant also applied for enforcement of another part of the settlement (see paragraph 5 above). On 15 September 1988 the court issued a writ of execution entitling the applicant to perform the debtor's obligation herself, at his expense. Subsequently, it accepted the applicant's proposal and on 15 April 1991 issued an order to the debtor to advance the costs of obtaining the goods.
30.  The debtor failed to comply. Therefore, on 22 May 1991 the court, at the applicant's proposal and in order to cover those costs, ordered the seizure and sale of the debtor's movable property to be found at his home and his business premises.
31.  On 6 June 1991 the bailiff seized some debtor's movables (those apparently included, at least, a car and a motorcycle). They were entrusted to a guardian – a certain M.Č. – for safekeeping.
32.  However, M.R.P. intervened in the proceedings as a third party claiming that she was the owner of some of the seized movables as the debtor had transferred them to her. Eventually, on 19 October 1994 M.R.P. obtained a final court judgment in her favour declaring inadmissible the enforcement of the applicant's claim in respect of those movables. It appears that the applicant did not thereafter ask the court to continue with the enforcement by seizure of other movable property.
33.  On 11 July 2000 the court decided to discontinue the enforcement proceedings on the ground that the applicant's claim had been satisfied.
34.   The applicant appealed against this decision on 4 December 2000 to the Rijeka County Court (Županijski sud u Rijeci). She argued that, since the enforcement in respect of certain movables had been found inadmissible, her claim had not actually been satisfied and the court should have continued with the enforcement.
35.  On 12 June 2002 the County Court quashed the first-instance decision and remitted the case.
36.  In the resumed proceedings, on 9 October 2003 the President of the court dismissed the applicant request for withdrawal of the judge in the case. However, on 4 November 2003 he accepted her second request to that end and assigned the case to another judge.
37. On 11 January 2005 the court set aside its decisions of 15 April and 22 May 1991 and discontinued the enforcement in its part ordering the debtor to advance the costs. Thus, from then on it was for the applicant, pursuant to the writ of 15 September 1988, to procure the goods and submit the invoice, whereupon she could apply to the court for a decision ordering the debtor to cover the costs. Both parties appealed.
38.  On 9 February 2005 the Municipal Court gave a decision discontinuing the enforcement proceedings. The applicant appealed.
39.  On 18 May 2005 the Rijeka County Court upheld the Municipal Court's decision of 11 January 2005 and dismissed the parties' appeals against it. On the other hand, accepting the applicant's appeal, it quashed that court's decision of 9 February 2005 and remitted the case.
40.  The Government submitted that in the resumed proceedings, on 23 June 2005 the applicant asked the Municipal Court to “appoint an expert to assess the value of the movables” and that at the hearing held on 5 October 2005 the court accepted her proposal. On January 2006 the applicant advanced the costs thereof.
41.  It appears that the proceedings are still pending.
42.  On 11 October 1989 the applicant applied for enforcement of the 1989 judgment seeking seizure of the debtor's movable property to be found at his home and his business premises. She specified that the court should seize, in particular, the debtor's car and motorcycle, as well as the tools, machinery and equipment from his car mechanic workshop. The court issued a writ of execution on 12 February 1990.
43.  As already mentioned above, on 6 June 1991 the bailiff seized some debtor's movables (paragraphs 8 and 31), and they were entrusted to M.Č. as the guardian.
44.  It appears that after M.R.P.'s intervention (see paragraphs 8 and 32 above) the applicant did not ask the court to continue with the enforcement by seizure of other movable property.
45.  On 20 October 1998 the President of the court instructed the judge in the case to expedite the proceedings
46.  On 19 April 2001 the court decided to discontinue the proceedings on account that the applicant's claim had been satisfied. On 30 April 2001 the applicant appealed to the Rijeka County Court.
47.  On 3 March 2004 the County Court quashed the first-instance decision and remitted the case.
48.  At the hearing held on 14 June 2004, the court invited the applicant to inform it of the address of M.Č. with a view to establishing the location of the movables seized on 6 June 1991. On 29 June 2004 the court invited the police authorities to provide that information.
49.  In their reply of 7 July 2004 the police authorities responded that there existed several persons with the same name and that they needed more data in order to identify the person to whom the movables had been entrusted. The court informed the applicant of the reply of the police on 3 August 2004 and invited her to provide the address of M.Č. It appears that, to date, the applicant has not done so.
50.  On 28 June 2005 the court invited the applicant's new representative in the proceedings to submit the power of attorney. It repeated its request on 24 October 2005.
51.  It appears that the proceedings are still pending.
52.  On 25 March 1992 the applicant applied for enforcement of a part of the 1991 judgment. On 15 April 1992 the Municipal Court issued a writ of execution by seizure of movable property.
53.  The bailiff's attempt of 18 November 1992 to seize the debtor's movable property failed as he found no movables susceptible to seizure.
54.  On 20 October 1998 the President of the court instructed the judge in the case to expedite the proceedings.
55.  On 19 June 2000 the court invited the applicant to submit a copy of the 1991 judgment, indicate the amount to be enforced in Croatian kunas, and provide the calculation of the statutory default interest. The applicant did so on 5 July 2000 by seeking payment of HRK 25,926.73.
56.  The President of the court again invited the judge in the case to expedite the proceedings on 20 November 2000, 18 January and 26 February 2001.
57.  On 13 March 2001 the court requested the applicant to submit a copy of the 1991 judgment stamped with the certificate of enforceability (clausula execuendi). The applicant did so on 21 March 2001.
58.  On 29 March 1993 the applicant applied for enforcement seeking execution of the 1992 judgment. She sought HRK 83,140.93. On the same date the Municipal Court issued a writ of execution by seizure of movable property.
59.  The bailiff's attempt of 30 June 2000 to seize the debtor's movables was unsuccessful since no seizable movable property was found.
60.  On 13 March 2001 the court invited the applicant to make further proposals as how to continue the enforcement given that already two attempts of the bailiff to seize the debtor's movable property had failed.
61.  On 27 March 2001 the court decided to join the two above proceedings.
62.  The bailiff attempted to seize the debtor's movable property on 18 April 2001 but found no car registered on his name. On the other hand, it found a boat for which the debtor claimed was the property of his current wife.
63.  On 21 June 2001 the court decided to discontinue the enforcement proceedings. The applicant did not appeal and the decision became final on 10 July 2001.